name
Meaning 1
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
trice
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/tɹaɪs/
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rhymes with -aɪs
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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CMU ARPABET: T R AY1 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Now only in the phrase in a trice: a very short time; the blink of an eye, an instant, a moment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: instant, jiffy, bat of an eye, bit, blink of an eye, crack, eyeblink, flash, glimpse, half a mo, jiff, jot, minute, mo, moment, New York minute, New York second, no time, sec, second, span, split-second, spurt, stound, tick, trice, twink, twinkle, twinkling, while
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A pulley, a windlass (“form of winch for lifting heavy weights, comprising a cable or rope wound around a cylinder”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To drag or haul, especially with a rope; specifically (nautical) to haul or hoist and tie up by means of a rope.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: blink of an eye, flash, heartbeat, instant, jiffy, split second, twinkling, wink, New York minute
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: moment, mo, minute, second, bit
verb
Meaning 7
hoist up or in and lash or secure with a small rope
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: trice up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hoist, lift, wind
verb
Meaning 8
raise with a line
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- trice a window shade
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: trice up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: raise, lift, elevate, get up, bring up
History
Etymology
From Middle English trīce, trise, in the phrase at a trīce (“with a single, quick motion; at once”, literally “with a pull or jerk”), later also in the phrases in a trice, on a trice, and with a trice. The word is ultimately from Middle English trīcen: see etymology 1 above.
From Middle English trīce, tryys, tryyst, from Middle Dutch trīse, trijs (modern Dutch trijs (“hoisting-block, pulley, windlass”)) or Middle Low German trīsse, trītse (“hoisting-rope, tackle”); probably related to the verb trice (see etymology 1 above), and perhaps to Old English tryndel (“roller, wheel”) (see further at trend, trindle). The English word is cognate with Danish tridse, trisse (“pulley”), Low German trissel (“dizziness; whirling”), German trieze (“crane; pulley”), Norwegian triss (“pulley”), Swedish trissa (“pulley, truckle”).
From Middle English trīcen, trice, trise (“to pull or push; to snatch away; to steal”), from Middle Dutch trīsen (“to hoist”) (modern Dutch trijsen) or Middle Low German trissen (“to trice the spritsail”); further etymology uncertain. The word is cognate with Danish trisse, tridse (“to haul with a pulley”), Low German trissen, tryssen, drisen, drysen (“to wind up, trice”), German trissen, triezen (“to annoy or torment”).
Across languages
Translations
17 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: миг (mig) — very short time
- Bulgarian: момент (moment) — very short time
- Chinese Mandarin: 瞬间 (shùnjiān) — very short time
- Czech: mžik — very short time
- Czech: okamžik — very short time
- Dutch: oogwenk — very short time
- German: Augenblick — very short time
- Romanian: moment — very short time
- Romanian: clipită — very short time
- Russian: миг (mig) — very short time
- Dutch: slepen — to pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply — see also pull
- Dutch: optrekken — to pull, to pull out or away, to pull sharply — see also pull
- Bulgarian: дърпам (dǎrpam) — to drag or haul, especially with a rope
- Bulgarian: притягам (pritjagam) — to haul or hoist and tie up
- Bulgarian: привързвам (privǎrzvam) — to haul or hoist and tie up
- Dutch: ophalen — to haul or hoist and tie up
- Dutch: optrekken — to haul or hoist and tie up
Real reading context